Galliano guys

On the surface, the
atmosphere at 9pm
on the first floor of a
former doll factory
in the rather seedy
20th arrondissement
in Paris is
perfectly calm. But underneath,
the excitement is building as a
battalion of young male models
are put through their paces.

Comments burst through
the air like whip cracks. "Chop
that T-shirt, make it shorter."
"Let's see that suspender." "Pull
the jeans down. I want the
frayed edges over the boots."
"Now, walk." "That's good, that
slouch. Do that in the show."

Waistbands are wrenched
open to reveal logoed jockstraps;
sleeves are dragged off
shoulders to create the impression
of deshabille; cobra-head
zips on track-tops are pulled
down to uncover tanned pecs.
These changes are mere
tweaks; minute adjustments.

The John Galliano menswear
collection for next autumn/
winter is finished. It is styled
and accessorised down to the
last fuchsia silk pocket handkerchief
on a tailored jacket, which,
when pulled out, looks remarkably
like a lacy g-string.

"It's like he stuffed his girlfriend's
knickers in his pocket,"
says Galliano.

Such deliberate naughtiness
was one of the many twists
revealed last Friday when the
collection was shown in a
circus tent in the Bois de
Boulogne.

"It's like, only the guy who's
wearing it knows it's there, or
his girlfriend," says Galliano,
who is knowingly tapping into a
masculine preoccupation with
girly underwear, epitomised by
David Beckham's admission
that he has worn his wife
Victoria's thongs.

The show is the culmination
of 20 years work. Although
Galliano's 1984 Central Saint
Martins graduate show, Les
Incroyables, and some subsequent
London shows featured
men's and womenswear, he has
not shown menswear on the
catwalk since 1986.

Early backers regarded his
menswear designs as "selfindulgent"
and, once he moved
to Paris in the early '90s,
commercial necessity forced
him to concentrate on
womenswear.

Apart from Galliano
Womenswear, he designs more
than a dozen collections a year
for Christian Dior, including
skiwear, lingerie, golfwear,
cruise- and resortwear, and
that's before one considers the
colossal creative output behind
his ready-to-wear and haute
couture collections, the most
recent of which, shown four
days ago, was a dazzling
panoply of gold, coral and
turquoise, inspired by
Tutankhamen and Cleopatra.

But it seems that menswear
was never far from his thoughts.
"It's been a gradual progression,
an evolution, and I've learnt a
lot from womenswear," he says.
"Male friends liked what I wore
and they started asking: ‘When
are you going to do something
for us?'"

Galliano has always been his
own best advertisement, reinventing
himself as an Apache
Indian, spiv, gypsy, flamenco
dancer, boxer and pirate; by
turns dreadlocked, hatted,
scarfed, slicked-back and ponytailed.

The one constant,
recently at least, has been the
pearl-drop earring in his left ear.
Galliano's first menswear collection,
for this spring/summer,
was small and focused, and was
presented to buyers from just 75 shops. David Beckham, Joaquin
Cortes and David Furnish have
placed orders.

He has approached the
collection with the same
exacting eye and thorough standard
of research that typifies his
womenswear. A "source" book
contains pages ripped from
magazines and photographs of
James Dean, John Wayne, jazz
musicians, boxers, bookies and
shots of Tony Ward, one of
Madonna's early boyfriends,
who modelled in last week's
show. A bulging scrapbook is
stuffed with pieces of fur and
lace, as well as leather and
tweed, overlaid with snakeskin
and Prince of Wales check.

"There's no specific
formula," says Galliano. "I have
a very haute couture way of
working. It starts with a waistcoat,
a very "gentleman's club"
sort of waistcoat. But I've
treated the waistcoat as if it
were a corset, so that it
becomes the first layer in the
process of putting clothes on the
body. There is constant motion
between layering and revealing.

There's trompe l'oeil, with two
pieces in one. There are what I
call John Wayne jeans: cut bowlegged,
so you look like you've
just got off a horse. And I've
taken the bias-cutting I use in
womenswear and put it into
tailored suits. I'm probably the
first designer to do this."

The current collection is
divided into five themes:
Casanova, which embraces
chivalry and cowboys; Cecil
Beaton, which mixes vintage
dresses, rolled down to the
waist, with trenches and
jackets; Boxing and Skinheads,
with its layered, beaten-up
leather, T-shirts and tracksuits;
Greyhound Racing, which is a
bit spivvy; and Hustler. All the
pieces represent some aspect
of Galliano's personality and
the clothes he likes to wear.

"You dream of these things
and, if you dream hard enough,
they do come true," he says. "It's
been nearly 20 years, but it's
been worth the wait."